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Leominster to get more in CDBG funding this year

By Jack Minch, jminch@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
10/15/2013 06:37:52 AM EDT

LEOMINSTER -- Mayor Dean Mazzarella's office on Monday announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is giving the city a larger Community Development Block Grant this year, helping low- and moderate-income residents and neighborhoods, including the Mayor's Heating Fund.

The city received about $391,000 last year and is getting an additional $18,663 this year, Grants Administrator Wendy Wiiks said.

The CDBG funding also helps such organizations as the Spanish American Center, Beacon of Hope, Boys & Girls Club of Fitchburg and Leominster, and Montachusett Interfaith Hospitality Network.

"It's also used for the housing-rehab program," Wiiks said. "It funds that entire program."

The housing and rehabilitation program is used to make improvements to housing so veterans and the elderly can remain in their homes.

The city's CDBG funding and the associated housing-rehabilitation program have been shrouded in controversy the past year, but Mazzarella said its effectiveness and efficiency were advantages in getting increased funding.

"All you have to do is pick up a newspaper and read about communities not too far away that had to give back millions of dollars," he said. "With heating season just around the corner, it's some of the best news we could have."

City Council President Susan Chalifoux Zephir, who is running for mayor against Mazzarella, wasn't immediately available for comment.

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Mazzarella and Zephir argued last week over release of a HUD report critical of the city's response to formal findings and concerns about the CDBG program released in June.

It was a public document and should have been released to city councilors immediately, Zephir said at the time.

Mazzarella disagreed. He said he had repeatedly responded to the concerns and findings, so the report was wrong and did not warrant release just so it could be used as political material against him, Mazzarella said.

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